Comparison of detrital mineral compositions between stream sediments of the Yangtze River (Changjiang) and the Yellow River (Huanghe) and their provenance implication

A comparative comparative study on the detrital mineral composition of stream sediments of the Yangtze River (Changjiang) and Yellow River (Huanghe) shows that, light minerals of the Yangtze River basin were mainly quartz, feldspar, and detritus, the compositional characteristics of light minerals differed among tributaries, the main stream had a generally higher maturity index than tributaries;heavy mineral content tended to decrease progressively from the upper stream to lower stream of the Yangtze River, the primary assemblage was magnetite-hornblende-augite-garnet-epidote, and diagnostic minerals of different river basins were capable of indicating the nature and distribution of the source rock. Detrital mineral assemblages in sediments of tributaries and the main stream of the Yellow River were basically similar, Primary heavy mineral assemblage was opaque mineral-garnet-epidote-carbonate mineral and alteration mineral. Variations in the contents of garnet, opaque mineral, and hornblende mainly reflected the degree of sedimentary differentiation in suspended sediment and the hydrodynamic intensity of a drainage system. The heavy mineral differentiation index F revealed sedimentary differentiation of diagnostic detrital mineral composition due to changes in regional hydrodynamic intensity and can serve as an indicator for studying the dynamic sedimentary environment of a single-provenance river and the degree of sedimentary differentiation of its detrital minerals. Changes in detrital mineral content of the Yellow River was not completely controlled by provenance but reflected gravity sorting of the detrital mineral due to variations in the ephemeral river hydrodynamic intensity and sedimentary environment, however the index changing of Yangtze River were mainly influenced by the complex sediment sources. Therefore caution must be exercised in using the detrital mineral composition of marginal sea to determine the contribution of the Yangtze River and Yellow River.

Provenance of Detrital Magnetites from Quaternary Sediments in the Yichang Area and its Significance to the Birth of the Three Gorges, Yangtze River

Objective In recent years, the birth time and evolution of the Three Gorges, Yangtze River has become a focused topic. Different from previous studies, this study used provenance analysis of Quaternary sediments to discuss this question. Among those minerals in Quaternary sediments, magnetite was rarely studied. This paper presents element geochemistry and backscatter images of detrital magnetites from the Quaternary sediments in the Yichang area of Hubei Province. By discussing the provenance changes of detratic magnetites, we suggested the birth time of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River.

Changjiang River sediment delivering into the sea in response to water storage of Sanxia Reservoir in 2003

The Sanxia Reservoir on the Changjiang River stored water from 1 to 10 June and from 25 October to 5 November in 2003, elevating the water level to 135 and 139 m above mean sea level at the dam, respectively. A monthly dataset of water discharge, suspended sediment concentration （SSC） and sediment load of the Changjiang River from 1953 to 2003 measured at the Datong Hydrological Gauging Station of the downstreammost Changjiang River was mainly used to examine the Changjiang River sediment delivering into the sea in 2003 in response to the Sanxia Reservoir water storages in the same year. The results show that （1） compared with those in 2002, 2001, and the multi-yearly （1953-2000） average, both annual SSC and sediment load at Datong in 2003 were markedly reduced, and they were even smaller than the multi-yearly （1953-2000） minimum, although the annual runoff in 2003 did not change largely; and （2） compared with those in the corresponding months in 2002, 2001 and the multi-monthly average from 1953 to 2000, monthly SSC and sediment load at Datong both in June and November of 2003 were also markedly reduced, and those in June 2003 were even smaller than the multi-monthly minimum from 1953 to 2000. These may indicate that sediment sedimentation in the Sanxia Reservoir resulting from the Sanxia Reservoir water storage should be the main cause of the decreased annual and monthly SSC and sediment load of the Changjiang River into the sea in 2003. Besides, it seems that the Sanxia Reservoir water storage in the early June （flood season） of 2003 had more impacts on the decreased monthly SSC into the sea than that in the late October and early November （approximately non-flood season） of 2003.

Sediment Transport Capacity Under the River–Tide Interaction in the Changjiang Estuary

Sediment transport capacity is a fundamental parameter in sediment transport theory and its accurate calculation is important from both theoretical and engineering viewpoints. The capacity of sediment transport has been studied extensively by many researchers in the last decades. Nevertheless, the underlying mechanism behind sediment transport capacity in estuaries remains poorly understood. The current study aims to explore the impact of the river–tide interaction on sediment transport and establish a formula of sediment transport capacity under the river–tide interaction. The impact of the river–tide interaction on the hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics in the Changjiang Estuary was analyzed, a practical method for describing the variation in tide-runoff ratio was established,and a formula of sediment transport capacity considering the impact of river–tide interaction was proposed by introducing the tide-runoff ratio. The new method bridged the gap between two well-known sediment transport capacity methods by considering the variation in the index a for the gravitational term and overcomes the drawback of distinguishing flood/dry season or spring/ebb tide in the calculation of estuarine sediment transport. A large amount of flow and sediment data obtained from the Changjiang Estuary were collected to verify the proposed formula. The effect of salt-fresh water mixture and the morphological evolution on sediment transport capacity of the Changjiang Estuary were discussed.

Recent changing patterns of the Changjiang(Yangtze River) Estuary caused by human activities

To evaluate the controlling factors for coastline change of the Changjiang（Yangtze River） Estuary since 1974,we extracted the mean high tide line from multi-temporal remote sensing images that span from 1974 to 2014 at 2-year intervals.We chose 42 scenes to constrain the changing pattern of the Changjiang Estuary coastline,and implemented GIS technology to analyze the area change of the Changjiang（Yangtze） Subaerial Delta.Runoff,sediment discharge and coastal engineering were withal considered in the analysis of the coastline changes.The coastline has transgressed seaward since 1974,and a part of it presents inter-annual variations.The area of the Changjiang Subaerial Delta increased by 871 km2,with a net accretion rate of 21.8 km2/a.Based on the change of sediment discharge due to the major projects in the Changjiang River Basin,we divided the changing pattern of the coastline into three stages：the slow accretion stage（1974–1986）,the moderate accretion stage（1987–2002）,and the rapid accretion stage（2003–2014）.Liner regression analysis illustrated that there is a significantly positive correlation between the area changes and sediment discharge in the Chongming Eastern Shoal and Jiuduansha.This suggested that sediment load has a fundamental effect on the evolution of the Changjiang Estuary.Construction of Deep Waterway in the North Passage of the Changjiang River（1998–2010） led to a rapid accretion in the Hengsha Eastern Shoal and Jiuduansha by influencing the hydrodynamics in North Passage.Coastal engineering such as reclamation and harbor construction can also change the morphology of the Changjiang Estuary.We defined a contribution rate of area change to assess the impact of reclamation on the evolution of Changjiang Estuary.It turned out that more than 45.3% of area increment of the Changjiang Estuary was attributed to reclamation.

Intratidal and neap-spring variations of suspended sediment concentrations and sediment transport processes in the North Branch of the Changjiang Estuary

Profles of tidal current and suspended sediment concentration （SSC） were measured in the North Branch of the Changjiang Estuary from neap tide to spring tide in April 2010. The measurement data were analyzed to determine the characteristics of intratidal and neap-spring variations of SSC and suspended sediment transport. Modulated by tidal range and current speed, the tidal mean SSC increased from 0.5 kg/m3 in neap tide to 3.5 kg/ma in spring tide. The intratidal variation of the depth-mean SSC can be summarized into three types： V-shape variation in neap tide, M-shape and mixed M-V shape variation in medium and spring tides. The occurrence of these variation types is controlled by the relative intensity and interaction of resuspension, settling and impact of water exchange from the rise and fall of tide. In neap tide the V-shape variation is mainly due to the dominant effect of the water exchange from the rise and fall of tide. During medium and spring tides, resuspension and settling processes become dominant. The interactions of these processes, together with the sustained high ebb current and shorter duration of low-tide slack, are respon- sible for the M-shape and M-V shape SSC variation. Weakly consolidated mud and high current speed cause significant resuspension and remarkable flood and ebb SSC peaks. Setting occurs at the slack water periods to cause SSC troughs and formation of a thin flufflayer on the bed. Fluxes of water and suspended sediment averaged over the neap-spring cycle are all seawards, but the magnitude and direction of tidal net sediment flux is highly variable.

Heavy metals in Changjiang estuarine and offshore sediments:responding to human activities

The Changjiang （Yangtze） estuarine and offshore sediments were analyzed for total heavy metals concentrations and chemical fractions. Distributions of heavy metals show typical banded diffusion pattern, with high concentrations near the river mouth and following a decreasing trend in the offshore direction. According to chemical fractions, Fe/Mn oxide fraction is the major non-residual fraction in the Changjiang estuarine and offshore sediments, Higher percentage of non-residual fraction of Pb implies that, the industrial contaminations transported via the atmosphere and river input, may affect the non-residual fraction of heavy metals. Over past fifteen years, the concentration of Pb normalizing to A1 presents significant increasing trend, corresponding to the effect of human activities. By comparison of heavy metals fractions in 2003 to 2006, it has been realized that increasing water and sediment may cause a higher percentage non-residual fraction of Cu in the southern part of offshore muddy sediments.

Does reduced sediment load contribute to increased outbreaks of harmful algal blooms off the Changjiang Estuary?

Harmful algal blooms（HABs） have been increasingly frequent in coastal waters around the world over the last several decades. Accelerated coastal eutrophication, resulting from the increased anthropogenic loadings of nutrients, is commonly assumed to be the primary cause of this increase. However, although important,accelerated coastal eutrophication may not be the only explanation for the increasing blooms or toxic outbreaks in estuarine waters. Changes in riverine material fluxes other than nutrients, such as sediment load, may significantly affect biological activities and HAB incidence in estuarine and coastal waters. A case study off the Changjiang（Yangtze River） Estuary indicated that with the increasing riverine loadings of nutrients, the sediment load from the Changjiang River has been reduced by 70% over the past four decades. A comparison of long-term data revealed that the phytoplankton biomass maximum has expanded to a region of much lower salinity due to the drastic reduction in riverine sediment load and the subsequent improvement in light penetration in the Changjiang River plume. Furthermore, there was an apparent mirror-image relationship between the sediment load from the Changjiang River and the HAB incidence off the Changjiang Estuary over the past four decades, and the number of HAB incidents was significantly negatively correlated with the sediment load. Therefore, it is argued that the drastic decline in sediment load from the Changjiang River reduced turbidity in the Changjiang Estuary and thus contributed to the increased frequency of HABs in the buoyant discharge plumes.

Quantitatively distinguishing sediments from the Yangtze River and the Yellow River using δEu_N-ΣREEs plot

Sediment samples were collected from the lower channel of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River and the contents of rare earth elements (REEs) were measured. In addition, some historical REEs data were collected from published literatures. Based on the δEuN-ΣREEs plot, a clear boundary was found be-tween the sediments from the two rivers. The boundary can be described as an orthogonal polynomial equation by ordinary linear regression with sediments from the Yangtze River located above the curve and sediments from the Yellow River located below the curve. To validate this method, the REEs con-tents of sediments collected from the estuaries of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River were meas-ured. In addition, the REEs data of sediment Core 255 from the Yangtze River and Core YA01 from the Yellow River were collected. Results show that the samples from the Yangtze River estuary and Core 255 almost are above the curve and most samples from the Yellow River estuary and Core YA01 are below the curve in the δEuN-ΣREEs plot. The plot and the regression equation can be used to distin-guish sediments from the Yangtze River and the Yellow River intuitively and quantitatively, and to trace the sediment provenance of the eastern seas of China. The difference between the sediments from two rivers in the δEuN-ΣREEs plot is caused by different mineral compositions and regional climate patterns of the source areas. The relationship between δEuN and ΣREEs is changed little during the transport from the source area to the river, and from river to the sea. Thus the original information on mineral compositions and climate of the source area was preserved.

长江水系沉积物碎屑矿物组成及其示踪意义

长江碎屑矿物组成研究表明,轻矿物以石英、长石和岩屑为主,不同支流轻矿物组成特征不同,成熟度指数平均是2.0,一般干流高于支流,成熟度随沉积物搬运距离增加而增大。QFL及QtFL三角图解显示长江沉积物主要来自再旋回造山带物源区,流域风化剥蚀速度较快,不同支流物质汇入干流,使得干流轻矿物组成复杂多变而难以和支流区别。重矿物含量从长江上游至下游呈递减趋势,其主要组合是磁铁矿—普通角闪石—普通辉石—石榴子石—绿帘石—褐铁矿—钛铁矿。红柱石和磷灰石是金沙江沉积物的特征矿物组合;蓝晶石是岷江流域的特征矿物;涪江的特征矿物是榍石;汉江的特征矿物组合是磷灰石、紫苏辉石和硅镁石;锆石是湘江的特征矿物。不同流域的特征矿物指示其源岩性质。上游的雅砻江、大渡河以及岷江等支流沉积物对中、下游干流沉积物的贡献较弱。涪陵以上长江流域风化作用强烈,母岩主要是沉积岩类(碎屑岩、泥岩);其下流域沉积物中近源弱风化物质明显增加,其源岩类型体现为岩浆岩和变质岩类;而金沙江攀枝花地区及湘江、沅江沉积物则更多来自流域内广泛分布的大片变质岩类。

长江河流沉积物磁铁矿化学组成及其物源示踪

运用电子探针分析了长江干流和主要支流河漫滩沉积物中磁铁矿的元素组成。磁铁矿中的FeO平均含量稍高于其标准组成,而Fe2O3平均含量则明显低于标准组成;Ti、Al、Cr、V、Mn、Mg、Co和Zn等元素在磁铁矿中含量变化大,不同支流的磁铁矿的元素组成不同,同一取样点不同样品磁铁矿的元素组成变化也较大。金沙江、湘江、汉江及长江干流磁铁矿与钛磁铁矿、钛尖晶石、钒钛磁铁矿和铬铁矿等出溶交生,TiO2、Cr2O3和V2O3等元素含量高且变化大。金沙江磁铁矿富Mg、Al和Cr;大渡河、雅砻江和岷江磁铁矿中微量元素含量大多低于0.5%;涪江、汉江磁铁矿富Ti和V,而湘江磁铁矿富Ti和Al;总体上,长江干流上游磁铁矿富Ti,而下游磁铁矿中Ti、Al、Cr、V、Mg和Mn含量低于0.15%。干流磁铁矿的元素组成变化反映主要支流源岩组成及对干流影响程度的差异。

东海陆架北部长江、黄河沉积物影响范围的定量估算

采用粒度分析、扫描电镜观察 (SEM)、ICP— AES分析等方法 ,得到了关于长江、黄河入海沉积物的示踪粒级以及示踪指标 ,并提出沉积物物源定量识别的非线性规划数学模型 ,进而实现了东海陆架北部表层沉积物中长江型。

东海陆架表层沉积物粘土矿物组成分布特征及来源

依照Stokes定律,由256个东海陆架表层沉积物样品中提取了<2μm粒级组分、制成定向片,通过X-射线衍射(XRD)分析以及Biscaye(1965)方法计算了蒙皂石、伊利石、高岭石和绿泥石四种矿物的相对含量。结果显示,东海陆架区表层沉积物粘土矿物相对含量由高到低组成为伊利石(平均65.4%)、绿泥石(平均14.4%)、蒙皂石(平均13.3%)和高岭石(平均6.9%);东海陆架表层沉积物中高岭石含量有向海减小的趋势;陆架区东北部和中南部的伊利石含量较低、蒙皂石含量较高,东南部的伊利石和蒙皂石含量分布与其相反;绿泥石在研究区东部和东北部含量较低。聚类分析显示,东海陆架<2μm粒级沉积物可分为"类长江"与"类黄河"两种类型。类长江细颗粒沉积物主要分布在东海陆架中西部地区;类黄河沉积物在研究区东北部、东部和南部的部分区域分布。东北部的类黄河沉积物可能来自黄河或废黄河口,而南部和东部的细颗粒沉积物可能是晚更新世冰期干冷气候下形成的产物与现代河流入海细颗粒的混合物。

中全新世以来东海内陆架泥质沉积物来源

利用判别函数、Eu异常与稀土元素总量关系(δEuN-ΣREEs)图解以及物源定量识别方法,对位于浙闽沿岸泥质带的EC2005孔常微量、稀土元素地球化学进行分析,利用14C测量加速器质谱仪(AMS14C)进行年龄测定,探讨东海内陆架EC2005孔泥质沉积物来源。结果表明:EC2005孔泥质沉积物主要来源于长江,其平均贡献量为93.7%,没有识别出黄河物质;历史时期黄河物质可以影响到29°N甚至于更为偏南的区域(南界为27°25'N),台湾海峡西北部则可以接受台湾物质的输入;浙闽沿岸泥质区物质来源具有一定的复杂性,值得进一步深入研究。

长江与黄河河口沉积物环境磁学特征及其对比研究

对采自长江现行主河道和黄河入海口处的表层沉积样品进行了环境磁学参数的测量和对比研究。结果表明:长江和黄河河口沉积物的磁性载体主要是亚铁磁性物质,亚铁磁性矿物晶粒以假单畴-多畴为主,同时亦有超顺磁晶粒的存在;长江河口沉积物的磁性明显强于黄河河口沉积物,特别是质量磁化率、非磁滞剩磁及饱和等温剩磁,两者相对偏差在40%以上;在粗粒级沉积物(>0.063 mm)中,长江河口沉积物的磁化率与全样磁化率平均值差别较小,在4%左右;黄河河口沉积物差别很大,可达34%。两者的差别反映了长江和黄河沉积物中磁性矿物赋存方式的差异;长江和黄河河口沉积物磁性特征的差异与两者粒度特征对比明显。长江和黄河河口沉积物的这些磁学方面的差别是源岩特征和气候环境差异上的反映,可以作为判别两者物源的有效示踪剂。

黄河与长江入海沉积物中碳酸盐含量和矿物颗粒形态特征及影响因素

利用X射线物相分析、扫描电镜及能谱分析等方法分析了长江和黄河入海沉积物矿物颗粒形态特征及不同粒级的碳酸盐矿物百分含量分布。结果表明,长江和黄河入海沉积物的碳酸盐矿物含量均在9%左右,差异不大。长江碳酸盐矿物含量在粗粒级较高,随着粒度变细波动式降低,黄河碳酸盐矿物含量则随粒度变细而逐步增加;黄河方解石含量高而白云石低,长江的情况正好相反。长江和黄河入海沉积物中的白云石颗粒大多比较完整,侵蚀沿完全解理面发生,菱面体形态明显。长江白云石上可以见到大量的磨蚀和溶蚀形态。黄河白云石保存较好,侵蚀程度较低,磨蚀和碰撞形态明显,溶蚀形态很少,发现典型的马鞍状白云石颗粒。长江和黄河的方解石均遭受强烈侵蚀。长江方解石溶蚀特征特别明显,深入矿物颗粒内部。黄河方解石侵蚀深度相对浅表,侵蚀形态多为磨蚀、碰撞和溶蚀等物理和化学综合侵蚀特征。长江某些方解石表面布满细小鲕状方解石颗粒,似为局部自由空间的胶体-陈化成因特征。黄河方解石呈现多个次生微晶集合体,显示其黄土粘粒空隙胶结物成因形态。碳酸盐矿物的菱面体形态和菱面体完全解理所特有的60°和120°交角,是其电镜下的最佳识别特征。长江和黄河沉积物物源、流域风化强度以及矿物晶体结构本身的特点,是两河沉积物中碳酸盐矿物含量及颗粒形态差异的主要影响因素。

春季长江口崇明东滩沉积物-水界面营养盐交换过程研究

2005年3—5月,选取位于长江口崇明东滩的3个典型站点,对沉积物间隙水中营养盐剖面进行了观测;同时,通过模拟现场环境培养的方法测定了营养盐在沉积物-上覆水界面的交换通量。结果表明,间隙水中NH4+和SiO32-浓度比PO34-和NO-2+NO3-一般要高2—3个数量级。沉积物-水界面交换过程在春季表现为对NO3-和SiO32-的吸收,吸收的量在很大程度上取决于上覆水中这两种营养盐的浓度;由上覆水和表层间隙水浓度梯度所决定的分子扩散通量对实际交换通量的控制有限。对NO3-,分子扩散通量占交换通量的比例不到21%;对SiO32-,前者和后者的方向相反;对NH+4,较大的浓度梯度支持显著的释放通量,而在培养过程中并没有发现上覆水中NH+4浓度持续的增长。以上结果都说明其它因素,如浮游植物吸收、颗粒物吸附以及底栖动物扰动在更大程度上决定着崇明东滩沉积物-水界面营养盐的交换过程。

长江口北槽黏性细颗粒泥沙特性的试验研究

选用长江口北槽黏性细颗粒泥沙，在不同盐度的人工海水中通过静水沉降、动水沉降等各种试验手段了解其基本特性。在静水沉降管中观测了胶粒的电化学絮凝过程和重力碰并过程，于不同盐度条件下找出最佳絮凝盐度；并通过黏性细颗粒泥沙在流动海水中絮凝的试验研究，揭示其在动水中絮凝的机理和规律，及不同条件下的起动流速、不淤流速、沉降速度等特征值，从而分析其落淤情况。研究结果表明，长江口北槽细颗粒黏性泥沙的最佳絮凝盐度约为15，起动流速为15～20cm／s，这与泥沙的淤积固结时间有关，而不淤流速约为60cm／s。并由试验得到了挟沙力与流速之间的经验关系，以及用于估算不同流速条件下泥沙沉降速度及淤积量的经验公式。这些结果可用于长江口航道的疏浚、整治工作中，具有一定的理论指导意义。

东海内陆架泥质区百年来黏土矿物组成变化及其环境意义

东海内陆架泥质区是东海现代沉积的"汇",其中黏土组分是泥质区沉积物的重要组成部分。沉积物中黏土矿物组合是反映沉积区物质来源和搬运动力状况的良好指标。本文利用XRD方法分析了东海内陆架泥质区两根沉积物岩心中黏土矿物组成和含量变化,结合放射性年代标定,揭示了近百年来黏土矿物组成的演变特征,探讨了黏土矿物的来源及其含量变化的制约因素。结果表明:东海内陆架泥质区沉积物以长江来源物质为主,受黄河及瓯江等河流物质的影响;近百年来内陆架泥质区黏土矿物组合发生显著阶段性变化,它们是东亚季风强弱波动和长江入海悬沙减少的共同作用的结果。

长江口崇明东滩沉积物中生源硅的地球化学分布特征

对采集自长江口崇明东滩潮间带的沉积物柱状样进行了生源硅含量(BSi)测定。BSi的测定采用了7h的碱液连续提取法以校正样品中粘土矿物非生源硅的溶出对测定结果的影响。结果表明,与渤海和黄海沉积物类似,研究区域沉积物BSi含量也处在较低水平(<0.5Si%),沉积物中所含有的陆源粘土矿物也使SiO32?在间隙水中的浓度(<250μmol/L)远远低于纯BSi的溶解度。沉积物中含氮量以及N/BSi摩尔比等指标随深度呈现出降低的趋势,这反映了沉积物中的有机物在早期成岩过程中的降解,并且N比BSi降解得快。沉积物中δ15N值与含氮量、N/BSi摩尔比等指标都具有一定的正相关关系,显示在早期成岩过程中,与14N相比,15N更容易从有机物中释放出来。此外,在沉积物10—15cm深度处,发现含氮量、N/BSi比值等指标异常的变化,可能反映了修坝、台风等偶然事件对沉积过程的影响。